Russia’s ALROSA (operating in Sakha-Yakutia Republic) is the world’s largest diamond producer which over the past several months managed to increase its market share despite the crisis trends.
The company keeps developing, and is engaged in projects related to operating performance, production automation and Big Data — the digital mine project, plus some other projects that have been launched, ALROSA CEO and Chairman of the Board Sergei Ivanov noted at a working meeting with Vladimir Putin, presidential web page reports.
According to Ivanov, the industry saw “an unprecedented decline in sales in the second quarter. The sales plunge in the second quarter is compared by most experts to the sales dive in the 1920s — by 90—95%”, yet “the demand is coming back.” ALROSA sales of rough and polished diamonds in September totaled $336 mio (22-fold of April); for nine months of 2020, total rough and polished diamond sales accounted for $1,580 mio, corporate website reports.
The company’s sales and production have been declining for well over a year by now. 2019 July diamond sales were 55% down against March of the same year. Company’s 2019 Q3 diamond sales decreased by 23% with average realized prices for gem-quality diamonds being down by 32% y-o-y. 2019 Q4 diamond production declined by 27%, whereas 2020 February sales were 14% down compared to a month earlier.
Still, ALROSA is “making good progress with its projects in Angola developing a joint venture, the Catoca mining company, and discussing a number of promising projects,” Ivanov said.
He also noted that “today over 33K people work in the group. The average salary is about RUR 130K ($1.7K), which is well above the national average and higher than the average for Yakutia.”